Interposed His Precious Blood: Christ the Mediator

"For there is one God, and there is one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus."

~1 Timothy 2:5

Brothers and sisters in our Lord Jesus Christ, do you remember that sweet day when your heart trembled at the realization of that great gulf between you and a holy God; a gulf widened every moment by your sins? And do you remember how, as you wept at the edge of that gulf, a Divine Hand stretched out to you in friendship, and upon closer look, you found it to be a hand stained with blood and nail-pierced? What a beautiful day indeed when that Hand took your hand and placed it in the Father's hand! A reconciliation made possible by the blood of the Mediator: Christ Jesus.

A mediator is one who comes in between two groups or individuals who are opposed to each other to encourage dialogue between them and ultimately reconciliation. And in Christ Jesus, we shall behold a sweet Mediator, a lovely Friend who has committed to Himself our reconciliation with God Almighty:

I) Firstly, our beloved Brother Christ Jesus is lovely as a Mediator because He is supremely qualified. Consider whom God has chosen to be the Reconciler of mankind: The Son of the Most High God (Mark 5:7), the One through Whom and for Whom God has made all things (Colossians 1:16). The One who is the very radiance of the Father's glory and the exact imprint of His nature (Hebrews 1:3). He is the One in Whom the Trinity was pleased to dwell (Colossians 2:9). Therefore, He is perfectly suited to represent God Almighty, being truly God.

Often mediators are neutral and have no particular relationship or similarity to the opposing groups. However, in Christ Jesus we see a mediator who is perfectly qualified because He is not only truly God but also truly human. He took upon Himself human flesh (John 1:14) and He experienced every stage of human life from conception to death, even like us. He too was a curious and playful child, He grew in wisdom and in favour through His adolescence (Luke 2:52) and became a man. He was willingly submissive to His parents (Luke 2:51) and was part of a family with siblings. But not only that, He was touched with all our infirmities: He experienced every form of human suffering and weakness; He knew the heat of the day, hunger and plenty, sorrow and joy, honour and shame, friendship and betrayal, love and hatred, pain and exhaustion, temptation and trials. There is not one person in this world that can say to Him "You do not know what it was like for me," for He is able to sympathize with us in all our struggles (Hebrews 4:15). Therefore, He is supremely qualified to represent God and us.

II) But He is also indescribably lovely in our eyes because of the extent to which He went to reconcile us with God. Do you know, dear friends, of any mediator who has sacrificed as much as Christ has to restore our relationship with God? Mediators generally meet both parties on neutral ground, perhaps in the middle of a compromise on both sides. But Christ did not do so. God cannot compromise on His good and holy standard of righteousness, and we wicked sinners would not want to and could not ever reach God's standard of holiness (Romans 3:23, Psalms 14:1-3). And so what does Christ (against Whom we have all sinned) do? Charles Wesley wrote:

"He left His Father's throne above,

So free, so infinite His grace,

Emptied Himself of all but love,

And bled for Adam's helpless race."

Who could ever measure the depths to which Christ condescended to reach us stubborn and foolish sheep? He left the glories of His heavenly throne, surrounded by the holy harmonies of the cherubim, the adoration of the archangels, and His Father's bosom to be with us! And not only was the condescension spatial, it was emotional too, for He was willing to plead with sinners, be hated and mocked, and to patiently deal with us who were slow to believe and small in faith. God Almighty was willing to be hung naked on a bar of wood, open to the railing and scoffs of sinners.

He did not just endure, however, but also loved us. Ah! Can we fathom the dimensions of His great heart enlarged towards sinners? "Having loved His own, He loved them to the very end." (John 13:1) not only chronologically to the end of time but dimensionally to the fullest extent of His infinite heart. It is a love that breaks the hardest man and melts the coldest resolve. He healed the sick, defended the innocent, strengthened the weak, gave to the needy, taught the simple, forgave the repentant, and greatest of all, died as our punishment.

Therefore, Christ is unique as Mediator because He reconciled us at His own cost: spilling His own sinless blood that we might be united once more with our Father.

III) Finally, He is lovely as Mediator because of the effectiveness of His reconciling work as our Mediator. Most mediators may bring a temporal solution to a particular conflict, and even if it be a lasting remedy for both parties, there is no ultimate guarantee of peace, and they are likely to have another conflict in the future. Furthermore, mediators are limited to bringing agreement to the opposed individuals but do not contribute any more. But when Christ restored our relationship with the Father, He made it eternally effectual and infinitely secure. How does He do this? Firstly, with the efficacy of His sinless blood, which God was pleased to accept as a full and perfect sacrifice for our sins, and secondly, because He continues as Mediator for us through His role as Intercessor on our behalf (Hebrews 7:25). This is not as though He needed to continue to offer up any more sacrifices for our sins but rather to keep us from falling away.

And not only that, but He blesses us with so many gifts through His mediatorial work. The Father has "blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ" (Ephesians 1:3) and has "raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus." (Ephesians 2:6) What inestimable honours bequeathed upon us! Sonship, friendship, the Holy Spirit, thrones, access, confidence, power, hope, peace, joy—all ours in Christ, and yet it is Him we love far more than His gifts.

Blessed be God for Christ our Friend and our Mediator:

"Jesus sought me when a stranger,

Wand'ring from the fold of God.

He, to rescue me from danger,

Interposed His precious blood."